Three-dimension display

ABSTRACT

A three-dimension display suitable for a viewer wearing a pair of eyeglasses is disclosed. The eyeglasses have two circular polarized eyeglass lenses with different polarizations. The three-dimension display includes a flat display panel, a quarter-wave plate and a patterned half-wave plate. The flat display panel has a plurality of pixels arranged in an array, wherein the flat display panel is suitable to display a linear polarized image. The quarter-wave plate is disposed between the flat display panel and the eyeglasses. The patterned half-wave plate is disposed between the flat display panel and the eyeglasses, wherein the patterned half-wave plate corresponds to a part of the pixels. The present invention also provides a fabrication method of a three-dimension display.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation application of and claims the priority benefit ofan application Ser. No. 12/035,436, filed on Feb. 22, 2008 which claimsthe priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 96146008, filed onDec. 3, 2007. The entirety of each of the above-mentioned patentapplications is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a partof this specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a display, and moreparticularly, to a three-dimension display (3D-display) with a liquidcrystal display panel (LCD panel) capable of providing images indifferent polarizations from the different regions thereof.

2. Description of Related Art

Along with the progresses and developments of science and technology,the people's enjoyments on recreation and spiritual levels are steadilyincreasing and never declining. In terms of the spiritual demands, inthe age of science and technology dazzlingly changed, people expect toexperience the fantastic imaginations by means of a display apparatus soas to have the effect of being physically on the scene. Therefore, howto make a display apparatus produce 3D images or pictures has become anobject to be desiderating achieved in the display technology fieldtoday.

In terms of appearance, the 3D-display technology can roughly becategorized into stereoscopic display mode in which a viewer needs towear a pair of eyeglasses with specific design and auto-stereoscopicdisplay mode provided to a viewer for directly viewing, wherein thestereoscopic display can be further divided into color filter glasses,polarized glasses and shutter glasses. The stereoscopic 3D-display isbased on that the display produces images with specific information forleft-right eyes, followed by selecting of a pair of eyeglasses wearingon head so as to enable the left-right eyes of the viewer to see theleft-right images for establishing a stereo visual perception.

FIG. 1 is a display principle diagram of a 3D-display for a viewer withpolarized eyeglasses. Referring to FIG. 1, a 3D-display 100 is suitablefor a viewer wearing a pair of polarized eyeglasses 110, wherein thepolarized eyeglasses 110 have two linear polarized eyeglasses lensesrespectively having a polarization D1 and a polarization D2. The 3-Ddisplay 100 includes a flat display panel 120 and a patterned half-waveplate 130, wherein the patterned half-wave plate 130 is disposed betweenthe flat display panel 120 and the polarized eyeglasses 110. As shown byFIG. 1, the flat display panel 120 has a plurality of pixels arranged inarray, and the odd-row pixels and even-row pixels on the flat displaypanel 120 respectively display a right eye frame R and a left eye frameL, as shown by a frame F1 in FIG. 1. In addition, the flat display panel120 has an upper polarized plate 140 with an optical axis having anextension direction parallel to the polarization D1, so as to make theflat display panel 120 suitable to display a linear polarized image withthe polarization D1. The patterned half-wave plate 130 includes aplurality of bar patterns B, each of which provides a phase retardation,and the phase retardation enables the linear polarized image with thepolarization D1 to be converted into a linear polarized image with apolarization D2. Each of the bar patterns B respectively correspond to arow of pixels in the odd-row, so that the image presented by the odd-rowpixels displays a right eye frame R with the polarization D2 afterpassing through the bar patterns B, as shown by the frame F2 in FIG. 1.When the viewer wears the polarized eyeglasses 110 to watch the 3-Ddisplay 100, the linear polarized lenses with different polarizationsenable the left eye and the right eye of the viewer to see a left eyeframe with the polarization D1 and a right eye frame with thepolarization D2 to establish the stereo visual perception.

Although the above-mentioned techniques are able to make a viewerwearing a pair of polarized eyeglasses see 3D-images produced by a flatdisplay successfully, but the viewed 3D-images have high dependence onview angle which may limit the viewing position for a viewer. Therefore,how to reduce the dependence on view angle and expand the viewable angleis one of the developing directions of 3D-displays.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a 3D-display, which isable to reduce the dependence on view angle for a viewer to use the3D-display.

The present invention is also directed to a fabrication method of a3D-display, by which two regions with two different circularly-polarizedimages are produced in the 3D-display to increase the view angle for aviewer to watch 3D-images.

In accordance with the above objectives and other objectives, thepresent invention provides a 3D-display suitable for a viewer wearingeyeglasses to watch 3D-images, wherein the eyeglasses have two circularpolarized eyeglass lenses with two different polarizations. The3D-display includes a flat display panel, a quarter-wave plate (1/4−λplate) and a patterned half-wave plate. The flat display panel hasa plurality of pixels arranged in an array, wherein the flat displaypanel is suitable to display a linear polarized image. The quarter-waveplate is disposed between the flat display panel and the eyeglasses,wherein the patterned half-wave plate corresponds to a part of thepixels.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the flat display panelincludes LCD panel (liquid crystal display panel) with linear polarizedplate, organic electroluminescent display (OELD) panel, plasma displaypanel, electro-wetting display panel or the like.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the patterned half-wave plateis disposed on the flat display panel, the quarter-wave plate isdisposed on the patterned half-wave plate and the patterned half-waveplate is disposed between the quarter-wave plate and the flat displaypanel. In an embodiment, the 3D-display further includes a substrate anda first alignment layer. The first alignment layer is disposed on thequarter-wave plate and located between the quarter-wave plate and thesubstrate, and the optical axis of the quarter-wave plate is parallel tothe optical axis of the patterned half-wave plate.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the quarter-wave plate isdisposed on the flat display panel, the patterned half-wave plate isdisposed on the quarter-wave plate and the quarter-wave plate isdisposed between the patterned half-wave plate and the flat displaypanel. In an embodiment, the 3D-display further includes a substrate anda first alignment layer. The first alignment layer is disposed on thepatterned half-wave plate and located between the patterned half-waveplate and the substrate. In an embodiment, the 3D-display furtherincludes a covering layer and a second alignment layer. The coveringlayer is disposed between the quarter-wave plate and the patternedhalf-wave plate. The second alignment layer is disposed between thecovering layer and the quarter-wave plate. In another embodiment, the3D-display further includes a covering layer with alignment function,the covering layer is disposed between the quarter-wave plate and thepatterned half-wave plate, and the optical axis of the quarter-waveplate is parallel to the optical axis of the patterned half-wave plate.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the patterned half-wave plateincludes a plurality of bar patterns, and each bar pattern respectivelycorresponds to a row of pixels in the even-row pixels.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the patterned half-wave plateincludes a plurality of bar patterns, and each bar pattern respectivelycorresponds to a row of pixels in the odd-row pixels.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the patterned half-wave plateincludes a plurality of bar patterns, and each bar pattern respectivelycorresponds to a column of pixels in the even-column pixels or a columnof pixels in the odd-column pixels.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the patterned half-wave plateincludes a plurality of island patterns, and each island patternrespectively corresponds to at least one of the pixels. In anembodiment, the island patterns are alternately arranged in the columndirection and the row direction.

The present invention also provides a fabrication method of a3D-display. The method includes following steps. First, a flat displaypanel having a plurality of pixels arranged in an array and suitable todisplay linear polarized images is provided. Next, a quarter-wave plateand a patterned half-wave plate are fabricated on a substrate, whereinthe patterned half-wave plate corresponds to a part of the pixels. Next,the substrate having the quarter-wave plate and the patterned half-waveplate is adhered the flat display panel.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the fabrication method of thesubstrate having the quarter-wave plate and the patterned half-waveplate includes following steps. First, a first alignment layer is formedon the substrate. Next, a quarter-wave plate is formed on the firstalignment layer. Next, a patterned half-wave plate is formed on thequarter-wave plate.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the fabrication method of thesubstrate having the quarter-wave plate and the patterned half-waveplate includes following steps. First, a first alignment layer is formedon the substrate. Next, a patterned half-wave plate is formed on thefirst alignment layer. Next, a quarter-wave plate is formed on thepatterned half-wave plate.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the fabrication method of thesubstrate having the quarter-wave plate and the patterned half-waveplate includes following steps. First, a first alignment layer is formedon the substrate. Next, a patterned half-wave plate is formed on thefirst alignment layer. Next, a covering layer is formed on the patternedhalf-wave plate. Next, a second alignment layer is formed on thecovering layer. Next, a quarter-wave plate is formed on the secondalignment layer.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the fabrication method of thesubstrate having the quarter-wave plate and the patterned half-waveplate includes following steps. First, a first alignment layer is formedon the substrate. Next, a patterned half-wave plate is formed on thefirst alignment layer. Next, a covering layer having alignment functionis formed on the patterned half-wave plate. Next, a quarter-wave plateis formed on the covering layer having alignment function.

In the 3D-display of the present invention, the different regions of thepatterned half-wave plate provide different phase retardations, so thatthe 3D-display is able to produce left eye frame and right eye framerespectively corresponding to different polarizations and the 3D-displayis capable to convert a linear polarized image into a circular polarizedimage by using quarter-wave. In association with the quarter-wave plateand the patterned half-wave plate is capable for a viewer wearing a pairof polarized eyeglasses see 3D-images with an wider view angle comparingwith the prior art, which would largely promote the display quality of3D-images. In addition, the optical axis of the quarter-wave plate isparallel to the optical axis of the patterned half-wave plate in thepresent invention, and in the partial embodiments, only a singlealignment layer is used to integrate the quarter-wave plate and thepatterned half-wave plate. Therefore, the present invention isadvantageous in reducing the manufacturing cost as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a display principle diagram of a 3-D display.

FIG. 2A is a diagram of a 3-D display according to a first embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2B is a diagram showing an implementation of the patternedhalf-wave plate in the 3-D display of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C is a diagram showing another implementation of the patternedhalf-wave plate in the 3-D display of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional diagram of a 3-D display according to thefirst embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A-4F are diagrams showing the fabrication method of the 3-Ddisplay of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a 3-D display according to the second embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional diagram of a 3-D display according to thesecond embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A-7C are diagrams showing the fabrication method of theabove-mentioned substrate in FIG. 6 having a quarter-wave plate and apatterned half-wave plate.

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional diagram of another 3-D display according tothe second embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 9A-9E are diagrams showing the fabrication method of theabove-mentioned substrate in FIG. 8 having a quarter-wave plate and apatterned half-wave plate.

FIG. 10 is cross sectional diagram of yet another 3-D display accordingto the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 11A-11D are diagrams showing the fabrication method of theabove-mentioned substrate in FIG. 10 having a quarter-wave plate and apatterned half-wave plate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferredembodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers areused in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or likeparts.

FIG. 2A is a diagram of a 3-D display according to the first embodimentof the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2A, a 3D-display 200 issuitable for a viewer wearing a pair of circular polarized eyeglasses210 to watch, wherein the circular polarized eyeglasses 210 have twocircular polarized eyeglass lenses 210L with a left-handed circularpolarization and a right-handed circular polarization and the circularpolarized eyeglass lens 210L can be seen as a combination of aquarter-wave plate and a linear polarized plate as shown by FIG. 2A. Inaddition, the 3D-display 200 includes a flat display panel 220, aquarter-wave plate 230 and a patterned half-wave plate 240. In theembodiment, the patterned half-wave plate 240 is disposed on the flatdisplay panel 220, the quarter-wave plate 230 is disposed on thepatterned half-wave plate 240 and the patterned half-wave plate 240 islocated between the quarter-wave plate 230 and the flat display panel220. The flat display panel 220 can be LCD panel with upper polarizedplate, organic electroluminescent display (OELD) panel, plasma displaypanel or electro-wetting display panel. In the embodiment, the flatdisplay panel 220 is an exemplarily LCD panel with an upper polarizedplate.

Still referring to FIG. 2A, the flat display panel 220 has a pluralityof pixels P arranged in an array. In the embodiment, the flat displaypanel 220 has an upper polarized plate 250, wherein the extensiondirection of the optical axis of the upper polarized plate 250 isnotated by D1, and the flat display panel 220 is suitable to display alinear polarized image with a polarization D1. The patterned half-waveplate 240 and the quarter-wave plate 230 are disposed between the flatdisplay panel 220 and the circular polarized eyeglasses 210, and thepatterned half-wave plate 240 corresponds to a part of the pixels; forexample, the patterned half-wave plate 240 includes a plurality of barpatterns B and each bar patterns B respectively corresponds to a row ofpixels P in the odd-row pixels P. In particular, the bar patterns B onthe patterned half-wave plate 240 have a phase retardation function, sothat the image displayed by the flat display panel 220 after passingthrough the bar patterns B get a half wavelength (λ/2) phaseretardation.

In more detail, the λ/2 phase retardation provided by the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 in association with the odd-row pixels P makes thelinear polarized image with the polarization D1 converted into thelinear polarized image with the polarization D2 prior to entering thequarter-wave plate 230. Meanwhile, the phase retardation provided by thepatterned half-wave plate 240 in association with the even-row pixels issubstantially zero, so that the linear polarized image presented by theeven-row pixels after passing through the patterned half-wave plate 240would keep the original polarization D1 to enter the quarter-wave plate230. The linear polarized image displayed by the flat display panel 220after passing through the patterned half-wave plate 240 produces a frameF1 as shown by FIG. 2A, wherein the frame F1 is divided into a pluralityof bar frames with the polarization D1 and a plurality of bar frameswith the polarization D2 and the above-mentioned two groups of frameswith D1 and D2 are alternately arranged.

Still referring to FIG. 2A, the λ/4 phase retardation provided by thequarter-wave plate 230 makes the two groups of linear polarized imageswith the polarization D1 and the polarization D2 respectively convertedinto left-handed circular circularly-polarized images and right-handedcircular circularly-polarized images to then enter the circularpolarized eyeglasses 210 worn by the viewer. As shown by the frame F2 inFIG. 2A, the frame F2 is divided into a plurality of left-eye images Land a plurality of right-eye images R, so that the viewer is able to seea 3D-image superposed by the left-eye image L and the right-eye image Rof the frame F2 through the circular polarized eyeglasses 210. Notethat, compared to the prior art where a linear polarized image with alinear polarization is used, the circularly-polarized image with acircular polarization provided by the present invention has almost thesame amounts corresponding to all the components in each polarization.Therefore, when a viewer wearing the circular polarized eyeglasses 210watches the 3D-display 200 in different viewing angles, the viewed3D-image is more even, and the employed quarter-wave plate 230 ishelpful to increase the view angle of the 3D-display in this regard.

Each bar pattern B of the patterned half-wave plate 240 can alsorespectively correspond to a row of pixels P in the even-row pixels P ofthe flat display panel. In addition, referring to FIGS. 2B and 2C wherethe relationship between the patterned half-wave plate 240 and thepixels P of the flat display panel is shown, a patterned half-wave plate240 (other components but the patterned half-wave plate 240 are omittedin the figure) includes a plurality of bar patterns B and each barpatterns B respectively corresponding to a column of pixels P in theodd-column pixels. Alternatively, each bar patterns B can respectivelycorrespond to a column of pixels P in the even-column pixels as well.Referring to FIG. 2C, the patterned half-wave plate 240 (othercomponents but the patterned half-wave plate 240 are omitted in thefigure) includes a plurality of island patterns I which are alternatelyarranged in the column direction and in the row direction and eachisland pattern I respectively correspond to one of the pixels P, so thatthe frame has two groups of displayed images alternately arranged as achessboard, and when the two groups of images pass through the circularpolarized eyeglasses 210 worn by the viewer, a 3D-frame is produced.Each island pattern may correspond to a plurality of pixels. Therefore,a designer can specify the relationship between the pattern on thepatterned half-wave plate and the pixels of the flat display panel inaccordance with the application need. The present invention does notlimit the shape, size and arrangement of the patterns on the patternedhalf-wave plate.

Particularly, the 3D-display 200 includes a substrate 310 and a firstalignment layer 320 as shown by FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a cross sectionaldiagram of a 3-D display according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the first alignment layer 320 isdisposed on the quarter-wave plate 230 and located between thequarter-wave plate 230 and the substrate 310, wherein the firstalignment layer 320 has a specific alignment arrangement for adjustingthe optical axes of the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patternedhalf-wave plate 240. In the embodiment, the optical axis of thequarter-wave plate 230 is parallel to the optical axis of the patternedhalf-wave plate 240.

In more detail, the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-waveplate 240 are made of, for example, phase difference film. The opticalbehavior of the phase difference film can be adjusted by changing thethickness thereof or the molecular orientation thereof. For example, thequarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-wave plate 240 can be madeof a same material where the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 have different phase retardations by changing thethickness of the phase difference film. In addition, since the opticalaxis of the quarter-wave plate 230 is parallel to that of the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 in the embodiment, thus, a single first alignmentlayer 320 is able to define the optical axes of the quarter-wave plate230 and the patterned half-wave plate 240, wherein the alignmentdirection of the first alignment layer 320 can be adjusted by usingvarious contact alignment processes or without contact alignmentprocesses.

In order to more fully describe the present invention, a fabricationmethod of the 3D-display according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention is described as follows. FIGS. 4A-4F are diagramsshowing the fabrication method of the 3-D display of the presentinvention. The method includes following steps.

First, referring to FIGS. 2A and 4A, a flat display panel 220 isprovided. The flat display panel 220 has a plurality of pixels Parranged in an array and is suitable to display a linear polarized imagewith a polarization D1. For example, the flat display panel 220includes, an LCD panel 222, a backlight module 224 and an upperpolarized plate 250 and a lower polarized plate 226 located at bothsides of the LCD panel 222, wherein the extension direction of theoptical axis of the upper polarized plate 250 is D1, which makes the LCDpanel 222 suitable to display linear polarized image with thepolarization D1. Next, referring to FIG. 4B, a first alignment layer 320is formed on the substrate 310, wherein the alignment direction of thefirst alignment layer 320 is D3 which makes the optical axis extensiondirections of the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-waveplate 240 become D3, wherein the included angle between the optical axisextension directions D3 of the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 and the optical axis extension direction D1 of theupper polarized plate 250 is 45° (as shown by FIG. 2A).

Next, referring to FIG. 4C, a quarter-wave plate 230 is formed on thefirst alignment layer 320, wherein the fabrication method for thequarter-wave plate 230 is, for example, overall coating a phasedifference film on the first alignment layer 320, and the method ofcoating the phase difference film is, for example, slot-die coating orspin coating through UV (ultraviolet) cross-linking. Next, referring toFIGS. 2A and 4D, a patterned half-wave plate 240 is formed on thequarter-wave plate 230, wherein the patterned half-wave plate 240corresponds to a part of the pixels P; in the embodiment, the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 has a plurality of bar patterns B corresponding tothe pixels of a row. The above-mentioned method of forming the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 includes, for example, overall coating a phasedifference film on the quarter-wave plate 230, and the method of coatingthe phase difference film includes, for example, slot-die coating orspin coating, followed by using a photo mask process to define therequired bar patterns B, and then, a developing process is used toremove a part of the phase difference film so as to complete thequarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-wave plate 240 on thesubstrate 310.

Referring to FIG. 4E, the substrate 310 having the quarter-wave plate230 and the patterned half-wave plate 240 is aligned and adhered to theflat display panel 220, and the 3D-display 200 after the adhering isshown by FIG. 4F, which is suitable for a viewer wearing a pair of thecircular polarized eyeglasses 210 to watch, wherein the circularpolarized eyeglasses 210 have two circular polarized eyeglass lenses210L with two different polarizations.

Second Embodiment

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a 3-D display according to the second embodimentof the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, a 3D-display 400 issimilar to the 3D-display 200 of the first embodiment except that thequarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-wave plate 240 havedifferent disposing positions from that of the 3D-display 200. Thequarter-wave plate 230 of the 3D-display 400 herein is disposed on theflat display panel 220, the patterned half-wave plate 240 is disposed onthe quarter-wave plate 230 and the quarter-wave plate 230 is locatedbetween the patterned half-wave plate 240 and the flat display panel220.

In the embodiment, the flat display panel 220 has an upper polarizedplate 250, wherein the extension direction of the optical axis of theupper polarized plate 250 is D1, which makes the flat display panel 220suitable to display the linear polarized image with the polarization D1.Next, the quarter-wave phase retardation provided by the quarter-waveplate 230 makes the linear polarized image with the polarization D1converted into the circular polarized image to be entered into thepatterned half-wave plate 240 as shown by the frame F1 in FIG. 5,wherein the circular polarized image is, for example, a left-handedcircular polarized image. Next, the image enters into the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 corresponding to a part of the pixels P. In theembodiment, the patterned half-wave plate 240 includes a plurality ofbar patterns B and each bar pattern B respectively corresponds to a rowof pixels P in the odd-row pixels P. In particular, the λ/2 phaseretardation provided by the patterned half-wave plate 240 in associationwith the odd-row pixels P makes the circular polarized image convertedinto another circular polarized image with an opposite polarization.When the circular polarized image with the opposite polarization entersthe circular polarized eyeglasses 210 worn by the viewer, the originalleft-handed circular polarized image is converted into the right-handedcircular polarized image, as shown by FIG. 5.

On the other hand, the phase retardation provided by the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 in association with the even-row pixels issubstantially zero, so that the image presented by the even-row pixelsafter passing through the patterned half-wave plate 240 would keep theoriginal polarization to enter the circular polarized eyeglasses 210, sothat the image of the frame F1 after passing through the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 produces a frame F2 as shown by FIG. 5, wherein theframe F2 is divided into a plurality of bar-like left eye frame L and aplurality of bar-like right eye frame R both of which are alternatelyarranged. The viewer wearing a pair of circular polarized eyeglasses 210at the time is able to see a 3D-image superposed by the left eye frame Land the right eye frame R of the frame F2. The pattern on the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 can be adjusted in accordance with the applicationneed. The present invention does not limit the shape, size andarrangement of the patterns on the patterned half-wave plate 240.Compared to the prior art in which a linear polarized image is used, thecircular polarized image with a circular polarization has substantiallythe same amounts corresponding to all the components in eachpolarization; therefore, compared to the conventional 3D-display 100(shown by FIG. 1), the 3D-display 400 of the embodiment has a better andwider view angle.

Particularly, the 3D-display 400 includes a substrate 310 and a firstalignment layer 320 as shown by FIG. 6. FIG. 3 is a cross sectionaldiagram of a 3-D display according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention. Referring to FIG. 6, the first alignment layer 320 isdisposed on the patterned half-wave plate 240 and located between thepatterned half-wave plate 240 and the substrate 310, wherein the firstalignment layer 320 has a specific alignment arrangement for adjustingthe optical axes of the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patternedhalf-wave plate 240. In addition, the quarter-wave plate 230 is locatedbetween the patterned half-wave plate 240 and the flat display panel220. In the embodiment, the optical axis of the quarter-wave plate 230is parallel to the optical axis of the patterned half-wave plate 240.

FIGS. 7A-7C are diagrams showing the fabrication method of theabove-mentioned substrate in FIG. 6 having a quarter-wave plate and apatterned half-wave plate. First, referring to FIG. 7A, a substrate 310having a first alignment layer 320 is provided, wherein the alignmentdirection of the first alignment layer 320 is D3, which makes theoptical axis directions of the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 become D3. The included angle between the opticalaxis extension directions D3 of the ¼-λ plate 230 and the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 and the optical axis extension direction D1 of theupper polarized plate 250 is 45° (as shown by FIG. 5). Next as shown byFIG. 7B, a patterned half-wave plate 240 is formed on the firstalignment layer 320, wherein the patterned half-wave plate 240corresponds to a part of the pixels P (as shown by FIG. 5). In theembodiment, the patterned half-wave plate 240 comprises, for example,but not limited to, a plurality of bar patterns B with λ/2 phaseretardation. The method for forming the above-mentioned patternedhalf-wave plate 240 includes, for example, overall coating a phasedifference film on the first alignment layer 320 with slot-die coatingor spin coating. Next, a photomask process is used to define therequired bar patterns B so as to form a plurality of blocks with λ/2phase retardation and a plurality of blocks with substantially zerophase retardation on the patterned half-wave plate 240. In theembodiment, the blocks with λ/2 phase retardation and the blocks withzero phase retardation respectively have almost the same film thickness.Next, as shown by FIG. 7C, a quarter-wave plate 230 is formed on thepatterned half-wave plate 240, wherein the method for forming thequarter-wave plate 230 is, for example, overall coating a phasedifference film on the patterned half-wave plate 240 with, for example,slot-die coating or spin coating through UV (ultraviolet) cross-linkingso as to complete the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-waveplate 240. Further, the substrate 310 having the quarter-wave plate 230and the patterned half-wave plate 240 is aligned and adhered to the flatdisplay panel 220 to complete the 3D-display 400.

In other embodiments, considering the film thickness of the quarter-waveplate 230 may be varied with the topography of the bottom of thepatterned half-wave plate 240 to make the film thickness of thequarter-wave plate 230 not even and further to affect the opticalbehavior of the 3D-display 400. Therefore, when the film thicknessdifference between the regions with the λ/2 phase retardation and theregions with the substantially zero phase retardation is too large, the3D-display further includes a covering layer 510 and a second alignmentlayer 520. FIG. 8 is a cross sectional diagram of another 3-D display500 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 8, a covering layer 510 is disposed between thequarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-wave plate 240 and thesecond alignment layer 520 is disposed between the covering layer 510and the quarter-wave plate 230. The covering layer 510 is for filing andsmoothing the topography of the surface of the patterned half-wave plate240, so that the quarter-wave plate 230 can be more evenly coated on thesurface of the covering layer 510 to further avoid the quarter-waveplate 230 from the influence of the surface pattern of the patternedhalf-wave plate 240 which may results in uneven coating. In addition,the first alignment layer 320 is employed for defining the optical axisof the patterned half-wave plate 240 and the second alignment layer 520is employed for defining the optical axis of the quarter-wave plate 230.In the embodiment, the first alignment layer 320 and the secondalignment layer 520 have a same alignment direction.

FIGS. 9A-9E are diagrams showing the fabrication method of theabove-mentioned substrate in FIG. 8 having a quarter-wave plate and apatterned half-wave plate. First, referring to FIG. 9A, a substrate 310having a first alignment layer 320 is provided, wherein the alignmentdirection of the first alignment layer 320 is D3. Next as shown by FIG.9B, a patterned half-wave plate 240 is formed on the first alignmentlayer 320, wherein the patterned half-wave plate 240 corresponds to apart of the pixels P (as shown by FIG. 5). In the embodiment, thepatterned half-wave plate 240 comprises, for example, but not limitedto, a plurality of bar patterns B with λ/2 phase retardation. The methodfor forming the above-mentioned patterned half-wave plate 240 includes,for example, overall coating a phase difference film on the firstalignment layer 320. Next, a photomask process is used to define thepattern with λ/2 phase retardation and then a developing process is usedto remove the regions with substantially zero phase retardation so as toform the patterned half-wave plate 240 with uneven topography.

Still referring to FIG. 9C, a covering layer 510 is formed on thepatterned half-wave plate 240 to cover the pattern on the patternedhalf-wave plate 240. Next as shown in FIG. 9D, a second alignment layer520 is formed on the covering layer 510, wherein the second alignmentlayer 520 and the first alignment layer 320 have a same alignmentdirection D3, and the fabrication method of the second alignment layer520 is similar to that of the first alignment layer 320. Next, as shownby FIG. 9E, the quarter-wave plate 230 is formed on the second alignmentlayer 520. Next, the substrate 310 having the quarter-wave plate 230 andthe patterned half-wave plate 240 is aligned and then adhered to theflat display panel 220 (as shown by FIG. 5) to complete the 3D-display500.

In another embodiment, the covering layer 510 and the second alignmentlayer 520 can be substituted by a covering layer 610 with alignmentfunction, as shown by FIG. 10. FIG. 10 is a cross sectional view of yetanother 3-D display according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 10, a 3D-display 600 can further include acovering layer 610 with alignment function, as shown by FIG. 10. Thecovering layer 610 with alignment function is disposed between thequarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-wave plate 240, and theoptical axis of the quarter-wave plate 230 is parallel to that of thepatterned half-wave plate 240. The quarter-wave plate 230 is locatedbetween the flat display panel 220 and the covering layer 610 withalignment function.

FIGS. 11A-11D are diagrams showing the fabrication method of theabove-mentioned substrate in FIG. 10 having a quarter-wave plate and apatterned half-wave plate. First referring to FIG. 11A, a substrate 310having the first alignment layer 320 is provided, wherein the alignmentdirection of the first alignment layer 320 is D3. Next, as shown in FIG.11B, a patterned half-wave plate 240 is formed on the first alignmentlayer 320, wherein the fabrication method with the required designconsiderations are similar to that shown in FIG. 9B, and therefore isomitted to describe. Next, referring to FIG. 11C, a covering layer 610with alignment function is formed on the patterned half-wave plate 240to cover the pattern on the patterned half-wave plate 240, wherein thealignment direction of the covering layer 610 with alignment function isthe same as the alignment direction D3 of the first alignment layer 320.Next, as shown by FIG. 11D, a quarter-wave plate 230 is formed on thecovering layer 610 with alignment function. Next, the substrate 310having the quarter-wave plate 230 and the patterned half-wave plate 240is aligned with and then adhered with the flat display panel 220 (asshown by FIG. 5) to complete the 3D-display 600.

In summary, the 3D-display and the fabrication method thereof providedby the present invention have at least following advantages:

1. The different regions of the patterned half-wave plate provided bythe present invention have different phase retardations and aquarter-wave plate is used to convert a linear polarized image into acircular polarized image. Therefore, a viewer is able to watch the3D-display having a low dependence on view angle.

2. The optical axis of the quarter-wave plate is parallel to the opticalaxis of the patterned half-wave plate in the present invention. In someembodiments, even a single alignment layer is enough for integrating thequarter-wave plate and the patterned half-wave plate, which largelysimplifies the processes.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the structure of the presentinvention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present inventioncover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fallwithin the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A three-dimension display, suitable for a viewer wearing a pair ofeyeglasses, wherein the eyeglasses have two circular polarized eyeglasslenses with different polarizations, the three-dimension displaycomprising: a flat display panel having a plurality of pixels arrangedin an array, wherein the flat display panel is suitable to display alinear polarized image; a quarter-wave plate adhered on the flat displaypanel and located between the flat display panel and the eyeglasses; anda patterned half-wave plate disposed on the quarter-wave plate, whereinthe quarter-wave plate is located between the patterned half-wave plateand the flat display panel and the patterned half-wave plate correspondsto a part of the pixels.
 2. The three-dimension display according toclaim 1, wherein the flat display panel comprises a liquid crystaldisplay panel with a linear polarized plate, an organicelectroluminescent display panel with a linear polarized plate, a plasmadisplay panel with a linear polarized plate or an electro-wettingdisplay panel with a linear polarized plate.
 3. The three-dimensiondisplay according to claim 1, further comprising: a substrate; and afirst alignment layer disposed on the patterned half-wave plate andlocated between the patterned half-wave plate and the substrate.
 4. Thethree-dimension display according to claim 3, further comprising: acovering layer disposed between the quarter-wave plate and the patternedhalf-wave plate; and a second alignment layer disposed between thecovering layer and the quarter-wave plate.
 5. The three-dimensiondisplay according to claim 3, further comprising a covering layer withalignment function, disposed between the quarter-wave plate and thepatterned half-wave plate.
 6. The three-dimension display according toclaim 1, wherein the optical axis of the quarter-wave plate is parallelto the optical axis of the patterned half-wave plate.
 7. Thethree-dimension display according to claim 1, wherein the patternedhalf-wave plate comprises a plurality of bar patterns, and each of thebar pattern respectively corresponds to the pixels of a row in theeven-rows.
 8. The three-dimension display according to claim 1, whereinthe patterned half-wave plate comprises a plurality of bar patterns, andeach of the bar pattern respectively corresponds to the pixels of a rowin the odd-rows.
 9. The three-dimension display according to claim 1,wherein the patterned half-wave plate comprises a plurality of barpatterns, and each of the bar pattern respectively corresponds to thepixels of a column in the even-columns or the pixels of a column in theodd-columns.
 10. The three-dimension display according to claim 1,wherein the patterned half-wave plate comprises a plurality of islandpatterns, and each of the island patterns respectively corresponds to atleast one of the pixels.
 11. The three-dimension display according toclaim 10, wherein the island patterns are alternately arranged in thecolumn direction and in the row direction.